PROF. SHLOMO GROSSMAN

COUNCIL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION (CHE)

CHAIRMAN OF PLANNING AND BUDGETING COMMITTEE (PBC)

THE ISRAELI SYSTEM,

PLANS AND PERSPECTIVES

The Structure of the

Higher Education System in Israel:

*The Council for Higher Education (CHE)

* The Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC)

*Universities

*Institutions for Higher Education

The Council for Higher Education

The framework of the system of higher education in Israel is defined in the Law from 1958, with 11 amendments enacted over a period of 40 years.

*To grant a permit for the opening and maintenance of an institution of higher education;

* To accredit an institution as an institution of higher education;

* To revoke the accreditation of an accredited institution.

The Council’s ResponsibilitiesAccreditation

Approval of new degree and programs

To authorize an accredited institution to confer an academic degree in a specific program of study.

To permit an institution to use designations (such as university, academy, etc.) for which approval is required according to the Council for Higher Education Law;

Institutional Designations

To license the branches and extensions of foreign institutions of higher education which operate in Israel.

Licensing Foreign Institutions

Quality assurance and assessment

To plan, organize and carry out quality reviews in the Israeli higher education system on two levels:

1. At the level of the individual program of study.

2. At the institutional level.

 The Council delegated to the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) its responsibilities of planning and budgeting. The PBC is therefore the executive arm of the Council.

The PBC

Terms of references of the PBC as defined by government

decision in 1977

To be an independent body between the Government and the Institutions of higher education, in all matters relating to allocations for higher education;

The PBC as a Buffer

To exclusively allocate the budget to the institutions of higher education, taking into account the needs of society and the state, while safe-guarding academic freedom and assuring the advancement of research and teaching;

Allocation of Funds

To ensure that institutional budgets are balanced and executed according to plan;

Accountability

To draw up plans for the coordinated and efficient development of higher education on the national level;

Planning and Coordination

To submit its recommendations to the Council for Higher Education concerning requests to open new institutions or new units in existing institutions, after examination of the planning and budgetary points of view.

Recommendations to the Council

Membership of the PBC

The PBC is composed of seven members: four university professors, one of whom serves as the Chairman of the PBC, one college professor and two representatives of the public from the economic, business or industrial sectors of the economy.

The PBC Budget

Institutions of

Higher Education

Research & other Bodies

Student aid

Budgeting of Universities

The main objective is to enable the universities to plan and budget their teaching & research activities in a way that maintains the academic and administrative autonomy of each institution.

Principles of the Model:

1 .The model is comprised of two separate components:

Teaching

Research

Budgeting for teaching is based on an absolute model whereas research is based on a

competitive model.

Research Component

The research component is divided according to the following four indicators, based on competition:

1 .Income from competitive research funds 35%

2 .Income from non-competitive research funds 20%

3 .Scientific publications 15%

Weight

4 .Doctoral students 30%

Diversification of the Higher Education

The expansion and diversification of the higher education system resulted in the emergence of different types of institutions

to provide alternative solutions for the growing demand for higher education all over the country.

The institutions of higher education in 2004, divided into eight categories, are:

A. Universities

B. The Open University

C. Arts Academies

D. Comprehensive Academic Colleges

E. Academic Colleges of Engineering

F. Academic Programs under University Auspices in Regional Colleges

G. Academic Colleges for the Training of Teachers

H. Non – Budgeted Colleges.

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

6 7 7 7 8 1016 20 21 22 23 22 22 22 227 7 8 8 10

13

1416

19 19 19 22 23 24 25

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1989/90 1991/92 1993/94 1995/96 1997/98 99/2000 2001/02 2003/04

Universities Other institutions Teacher training colleges

The Growth in the Number of Institutions of Higher Education in the 1990’s

Students in Institutions of Higher Education

150,150

101,290

135,890

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

1985/86 1987/88 1989/90 1991/92 1993/94 1995/96 1997/98 99/2000 2001/02 2003/04

Bachelor's degree

Total

198,800

23.026.7

28.831.9

36.037.6

40.5 42.0 43.1

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

Per

cen

tage

s

1990/91 1992/93 1994/95 1996/97 1998/99 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04

Proportion of Entering Students in Higher Education in the Average Age

Cohort

Bachelor’s Degree Students by Type of Institution 1989/90 -

2003/2004

47%

69%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1989/90 1991/92 1993/94 1995/96 1997/98 99/2000 2001/02 2003/04

Universities Regional colleges Teacher training colleges Academic colleges

55,230 66,260 81,180 92,530 112,930 126,900 137,800 150,150

58,310 73,430 86,320 101,290 120,350 131,060 144,500

Factors that Made the Growth in Student Numbers Possible:

Students in Institutions of Higher Education

150,150

101,290

135,890

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

1985/86 1987/88 1989/90 1991/92 1993/94 1995/96 1997/98 99/2000 2001/02 2003/04

Bachelor's degree

Total

198,800

1. More young men and women recognize the importance of higher education for social and economic progress.

2. The growth and diversification of institutions of higher education.

3. Development in various spheres

of life, as well as demand, caused

the institutions of higher education,

new and old alike, to develop

programs of study and to offer

academic degrees in a wide variety

of subjects, some of which were

not previously offered in Israel.

4. The success of Israeli

industry, particularly in the fields

of hi-tech, has brought the fruits

of higher education to the

attention of young men and

women.

Strategy & TargetsThe Five-Year Plan

Higher education In Israel operates

within a series of five-year plans. Each

plan is backed up by a five-year

agreement between the PBC and the

Ministry of Finance.

Higher education is the only public

sector that has multi-year agreements

with the treasury.

The new five-years plan (2004-2008) has few major targets:

1. Enhancing scientific excellence.

2. Establishing quality assurance in teaching and research.

3. Stabilizing the finance condition of the universities.

4. Expanding access to higher education.

Excellence in Israel Scientific Research

The following are some indicators of Israel’s strength in science:

1. Israeli scientists produce

about 1% of the world output

of articles in international

scientific journals.

Scientific Publications of Israel and neighboring countriesAs Percentage of World Publications

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Perc

enta

ges

Source: Science & Engineering Indicators 2004, US NSF

Israel

Middle East & North African Countries (Exc. Israel)

2. In relative terms, Israel ranks

third in the world, behind

Switzerland and Sweden, in the

number of scientific articles per

capita and fourth in the world,

behind Switzerland, Sweden and the

United States, in citations per

capita.

0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00

Spain

Germany

France

Belgium

Norway

United States

Canada

New Zealand

Australia

Netherlands

United Kingdom

Denmark

Finland

Israel

Sweden

Switzerland

No. of citations in scientificliterature per million population -2001

Scientific publications per millionpopulation - 1999 - 2001

Scientific Publications – 1999-2001 and Number of Citations in Scientific Literature – 2001 per Million Population (us=1.00)

Source: Science & Engineering Indicators 2004, US NSF

3. Israel excels in the field of

computer science both in terms of

research output and of the impact

of the research.

4. Israel also ranks highly in the

impact of its scientific articles in

the fields of biomedical research,

chemistry and physics.

Israel’s place in the world rank of relative impact of scientific literature in selected fields – 1994,

200119942001

All Fields1414

Medicine1918

Bio-Medical research53

Biology816

Chemistry75

Physics98

Earth & Space Sciences

146

Engineering & Technology

1313

Mathematics1616

Note: Relative impact is calculated as follows: the country’s share of total citations in a certain year divided by its share of all world scientific publications in that year

Source: Science & Engineering Indicators 2004, US NSF

5. A major feature of Israel’s scientific

research is its international character.

96% of Israeli authored scientific

articles in the natural sciences and

technology are published in foreign

journals.

6. A high and rising share of

Israel’s scientific publications are

written in collaboration with

foreign scientists.

Scientific excellence and universal

access to higher education:

contradictory ?

Selective access is changing and progressing toward universal access and the monolithic system is being replaced by a differential system, made up of institutions with different missions to respond to the changing needs of the economy and to the different aspirations of the students.

Israel’s system of higher education has two sectors, with different tasks and missions:

a. Universities that combine research and teaching.

b. Institutions of higher education whose mission is to provide academic teaching at the highest possible level.

The two sectors operate within one system with one funding agency (The PBC) and one accrediting council ( The CHE).

All academic degrees of universities and other institutions are equal by law.

ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES

* Research universities compete for scientific excellence at world level.

* They have to prepare the next generation of scientists and the future academic staff.

The Role Of Colleges

UNIVERSAL ACCESS:

*.The colleges should provide a place to anyone who can benefit from academic education.

* .Colleges must promote diversity in institutions of higher education.

EXPANDING HIGHER EDUCATION

* The colleges reach new groups in the population that were under-represented in academic institutions.

*The colleges are oriented to the labor market and teach employable skills.

1989/901994/952003/04Grand total55,25086,320150,150Percent100.0100.0100.0

Jerusalem District

22.717.513.6

Northern District..2.56.8Haifa District21.722.017.0Central District4.14.316.5Tel Aviv District42.842.731.0Southern District8.710.915.2

Bachelor’s Degree Students by District of Study

The balance between UNIVERSITIES and COLLEGES

* The practical disciplines- such as engineering, health professions, management, communication – have a lower research output and are mainly taught in colleges, compared to the non-practical fields:

Philosophy, history, physics and chemistry

Taught primarily at research universities.

Quality Assurance

The recent decision of the CHE to establish a national mechanism of quality assurance and assessment in higher education, will serve as a mechanism for following achievements in the higher education.

UNIVERSAL ACCESS

SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE